Jews and Muslims in France subject of talk by Brown professor

Dr. Maud S. Mandel

“Historians are storytellers and interpreters.” These are the words of Dr. Maud S. Mandel, dean of the college and professor of History and Judaic Studies at Brown University. The urgent story she shares in her latest book and in a talk to the community on May 3 focuses on relations between Muslims and Jews in France. In the wake of the terrorist attacks Jan. 7 at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and Jan. 9 at the kosher supermarket in Paris, Mandel’s special, insightful and authoritative telling of this story is surely urgent for all American Jews. 

Mandel has titled her book “Muslims and Jews in France: History of a Conflict.” She argues that to fully understand the alarming events in Paris of today, we must appreciate their beginnings in 20th century French history and the ways they are embedded in French culture and politics. To dramatize these points, Mandel tells about dockworkers and boycotts in Marseille in the 1940s, student radicals in 1960s Paris, North African Jewish communities after decolonization, and the more recent simplifying and polarizing of formerly complex ethnic identities among Muslims and Jews alike. She will share highlights of these places and these episodes during her talk at Temple Emanu-El. As part of the morning’s focus on the Jews of France, the event will start at 10 a.m. with a catered French buffet breakfast. 

Mandel’s insights into relations between Muslims and Jews in France have gained widespread recognition among scholars of Middle East history and of Judaic Studies as well as among a non-scholarly audience. Middle East scholar Arthur Asseraf has written, “‘Muslims and Jews in France’ is a remarkably concise and clear analysis of the complex relationship and mutual constitution of the two communities. Mandel has a knack for making the paradoxes of her subjects accessible, making this book necessary reading for anyone interested in contemporary French history and politics, Jewish history and Muslim-Jewish relations.” 

Similarly, a non-scholar, online reader has enthused, “This is a terrific book….Mandel does something that is really hard to do: she peels back layers and layers of contemporary perceptions and gets beneath them to reveal a very complex, perplexing story.”  

Mandel, who became dean of the college at Brown on July 1, 2014, was formerly director of the Program in Judaic Studies at Brown University. She is an international authority on French Jewish studies since the mid-20th century, and she is delightfully open about the writing of “Muslims and Jews in France.” “This book took me a long time to write. I began the research when my oldest child was 2 years old and it came out in print just before he turned 14! I wrote most of it in my home office that I share with my husband. Much of the writing happened during a couple of sabbaticals in which we shared that space with several cats. I have fond memories of those long days of writing.”  During a book signing after the program at Emanuel-El, Mandel may share even more about her scholarly interests and writing processes.

Mandel’s talk is the third in the arts and culture series “The Tangled Legacy: The Jews of France.” The final program in the series, “A Tangled Legacy: 1,000 years of French Jewry in Words and Music,” will focus on the history of French Jewry from the time of Rashi to today, as told through music from every era in an original, historically accurate script. Guest artists will include the world-renowned pianist Judith Lynn Stillman, instrumental soloists from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, many guest vocal soloists, plus the choir Shir Emanu-el with singers from the choirs of Temple Beth-El, West Hartford, and the Central Congregational Church, Providence.

For tickets to “Breakfast with Maud” on May 3 at 10 a.m, visit teprov.org or send a check to Temple Emanu-El, 99 Taft Ave., Providence, R.I.  02906. (Include “Breakfast with Maud” on check.) Early registration is from April 12-28 for $10, and just-in-time or at the door is from April 29-May 3 for $15.

For tickets to “A Tangled Legacy – A Concert” on May 17 at 7 p.m., visit teprov.org.

LINDA SHAMOON is co-chair, Arts Emanu-El, at Temple Emanu-El, Providence.